A federal judge in Atlanta on Monday quashed a Justice Department subpoena seeking the names and personal contact information of thousands of Fulton County election workers who participated in the 2020 election. U.S. District Judge William Ray ruled the grand jury subpoena unreasonable, calling its scope "staggering" and warning it threatened to chill future election participation.
The subpoena, served in April, sought disclosure of identifying details for county employees and volunteer poll workers involved in the 2020 election. Ray noted the statute of limitations for any possible crime related to that election has expired, rendering the request unnecessarily burdensome.
The ruling follows an FBI search warrant executed in January that seized hundreds of boxes of ballots and documents from a Fulton County election hub. A federal judge in May denied the county's request to force the return of those materials. Donald Trump was previously prosecuted by the Fulton County district attorney's office over efforts to reverse his 2020 loss in Georgia; the case was dismissed in 2025 after DA Fani Willis was disqualified.